In northern Germany
Hamburg is in northern Germany and forms its own federal state, with an area of 755 km². In late December 2008 it had 1,777,373 inhabitants (4.7 million in the metropolitan area of Hamburg, which includes parts of the neighboring states of Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein), which made it the 2nd most populous German city after Berlin. The port is the 2nd largest in Europe, after Rotterdam, and 9th worldwide. Hamburg's full name is "The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg" (Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg in German). This is due to its history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, as